This invention relates to treatment of volatile olefinic hydrocarbon streams to convert dienes to mono-olefins and strip lower molecular weight components. In particular it relates to simultaneous stripping and catalytic hydrogenation of C.sub.3 -C.sub.5 aliphatics to provide a treated light liquid useful for alkylation, etherification or other downstream processes.
Prior processes have required a separate selective hydrogenation step to remove reactive dienes. Volatile feedstreams also contain lower alkanes and alkenes, such as ethene, ethane, methane, and impurities which are removed in a separate stripping tower.
It has been discovered that catalytic hydrogenation and stripping may be conducted simultaneously in a multi-zone contact tower.